Holly and Baca County advance to the semifinals of the Class 1A District 3 Baseball Tournament

Semifinals and championship game to be played Friday, May 2 in Las Animas

Posted:
05/01/2014 01:45:22 PM MDT

The semifinal games are now set in the Class 1A District 3 Baseball Tournament that resumes on Friday, May 2 at Sonny Smith Field in Las Animas.

Holly head baseball coach Dayne Eaton and his Wildcats will be competing in the Class 1A District 3 Baseball Tournament on Friday in Las Animas. In first-round action on Wednesday, April 30, the #3 seed Wildcats hosted #6 seed Cheyenne Wells and pounded the Tigers, 16-1, in five innings. Holly now advances to face #2 seed Granada in a district semifinal game set for 12:30 p.m. on Friday, May 2 at Sonny Smith Field in Las Animas. (John Contreras/The Lamar Ledger)

High winds on Tuesday, April 29 forced the postponements of two scheduled first-round game.

Those two games were played on Wednesday, April 30 at the site of the higher seed.

In Holly, the #3 seed Holly Wildcats defeated #6 seed Cheyenne Wells, 16-1 in five innings, to end the season for the Tigers who won only one game this season.

Holly scored four runs in the second, four in the third, and blew the game wide open with eight runs in the fourth.

The Wildcats pounded out 13 hits. Marshal Pierce went 3-for-4 with a double and 1 RBI; Yaniel Vidal, 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs; Lane Salzbrenner, 2-for-2 with a double and 3 RBIs; Bailey Kennedy, 2-for-3 with 2 RBIs; and Christian Orozco went 1-2 with a double and two RBIs.

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Ricardo Juarez, a freshman right hander, picked up the win on the mound. In four innings of work he faced 15 batters and allowed no runs on one hit with 8 strike outs and 1 walks.

In Walsh, the #4 seed Baca County Bombers won see-saw battle, 8-6, over #5 seed Manzanola to end the season for the Bobcats.

Chaz Hebberd had a big game for Baca County with a pair of home runs as well as picking up the win on the mound.

Manzanola took a 2-0 lead in the first inning before Hebberd tied it for the Bombers at 2-2 with a two-run home run in the bottom of the inning.

After a scoreless second inning, the Bobcats scored two unearned runs to regain the lead, 4-2, in the top of third.

In the bottom of third, Hebberd homered for the second time with another two-run shot to tie the game for the second time at 4-4 in the bottom of the third.

Following a scoreless fourth inning, Chase Mundell belted a two-run shot to give the Bombers the lead 6-4 in the bottom of the fifth.

Manzanola scored two unearned runs in the top of the sixth to deadlock the game for the third time at 6-6.

In the bottom of the sixth, Baca County regained the lead when they scored on run on a passed ball and Cristian Alvarez had an RBI single.

Hebberd then shut the door on the Bobcats when he retired the side with three strike outs.

In Friday’s semifinals, #1 seed Eads (6-8) will play Baca County (2-8) at 10 a.m. and #2 seed Granada (6-2) will take on Holly (6-5) at 12:30.

The semifinal winners will then play for the district championship set for 3 o'clock.

Both teams in the championship game will play for seeding purposes as they advance to the eight-team regional playoffs scheduled for the following week in the Denver area.

This year's District 3 tournament appears to be wide open.

Eads, ranked No. 3 in the CHSAANow.com state baseball poll, went undefeated in district play with a 5-0 record. The Eagles won two close games with Granada and Holly.

In district play, Eads defeated Granada (9-5 on April 1); Cheyenne Wells (15-2 on April 3); Holly (6-4 on April 11); Manzanola (11-0 on April 17); and Baca County (9-3 on April 22).

No. 2 state-ranked Granada finished 4-1 in district play. The Bobcats beat Holly (19-18 on March 25); lost to Eads (9-5 on April 1); beat Baca County (7-0 on April 11); shut out Manzanola (10-0 on April 22); and blanked Cheyenne Wells (10-0 on April 25).

Holly is currently ranked No. 7 in the state and the defending district champions.

Class 1A District 3 Tournament

Wednesday, April 30

# 3 Holly 16, #6 Cheyenne Wells 1 (5)

#4 Baca County 8, # 5 Manzanola 6

Friday, May 2

Sonny Smith Fieldin Las Animas

10:00 - #1 seed Eads (6-8) vs. Baca County (2-8)

12:30 - #2 seed Granada (6-2) vs. Holly (6-5)

3:00 - District championship game.

Both teams will advance to the regional playoffs the following week in Denver.